Monday, February 27, 2012

Toronto Revisited

A year ago we took Jacob to Toronto with us for a Knighthawks game and a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It turned out to be a fun yet difficult trip. Jacob was cranky and uncooperative, and while the Hall was cool, we had a hard time truly enjoying it since Jacob was being such a challenge.

This year we decided to try again. In addition, we decided to stay over. Last year we left the Knighthawks game early to head back as far as North Tonawanda. Over the summer I pretty much swore I'd never stay in a hotel room with Jacob again, since our experiences on vacation were not good. But here we were, throwing caution to the wind and giving it all a shot. We took off from Rochester on Thursday night and headed to my parents' so we could take off for Toronto bright and early Friday morning. The weather was a concern as snow was forecasted along our entire path in significant amounts. We packed coats and boots and all that, and off we went, hoping for the best.

Jacob napped in the car on the way to my parents', which set him up for an extra late night. Despite that, he was still awake bright and early. We headed out mid-morning and made it to our first stop, the mall in Etobicoke, just before lunch time. It was cold and windy, but no snow, thank goodness! We headed into the mall to find the Lego Store, browsed, and eventually decided not to get anything. There were plenty of cool things, but nothing urgent (that sounds stupid since we're talking about Lego, here, but you know) that couldn't wait for our own Lego store that's coming to one of our malls sometime soon, or when we go to Disney in the fall and go to the massive Lego store at Downtown Disney. Still, Jacob was loving it. We had a rather frustrating lunch in the food court, and decided it was time to head to our next destination.

I'm sure I've mentioned it here before, but I'm a big fan of IKEA. It's one of my favorite stores ever, and it has long created big dreams in my head of making my home cool. I have a bunch of random pieces that I've bought over the years that I love--a random silver chair, a light that looks like an old Christmas bulb with feet, a wall lamp with interchangeable picture panels, a green and blue mosaic mirror--and plenty of functional stuff, too. No trip to Toronto is complete without a visit to one of the stores along the way, and this time I had a handful of things to buy, check out, and ponder. We sent Jacob into the kids area for the first time ever (thank you potty training, for giving us daytime, at least), and he had a blast. He colored, played in the ball pit, and watched a show. We shopped and picked up a few things, then finished our trip with some snacks (oh, how we love the ice cream and cinnamon buns!), before heading off to check into the hotel.

After that it was off to the arena. Craig got settled, and Jacob checked out the surroundings...

The boys were playing with the headsets, and this one's pretty darn cute.

And Jacob checked out the microphone...following in Daddy's footsteps already...

The game didn't go so well for the Knighthawks, but we had a pretty decent time anyway. At the end of the game we headed back up to the press box to meet Craig, and I tried to get him to pose in front of this massive picture of the opening night at Air Canada Centre...and yet this was the best I got...

I got him mid-lacrosse shot, distracted by people coming toward the elevator. And this was the best it got...

Jacob was up late that night, unfortunately, but he did sleep in on Saturday, at least. I snuck in a quick workout before gorging myself at the breakfast buffet (I love Holiday Inn Express.). We headed off to the Hockey Hall of Fame, hoping this year's trip would be less frustrating than last year's. And to be honest, for the most part, it was.

Jacob found an Amerks' puck in the sea of pucks!

This may be one of the best pictures I have ever taken of the boys. Miracles do happen, I guess.

Jacob really wanted to play bubble hockey, and we did for a bit, but he still doesn't quite get it despite his determination to play. However, they did have Wii Hockey, and he gave it his best shot, as well. That didn't go particularly well either, but at least it helped him feel like he got to play.

I have a feeling our future will look something like this...

Then Jacob really wanted to do the shootout. We figured he might be too small to trigger the sensors, but they moved him up close and he was ready to go! He had a problem waiting for it to reset after each shot, but it may have worked to his advantage--he scored! I think we saw one goal in the whole time we were waiting, and yet then Jacob got one! Even Craig didn't score. Everyone seemed to think he was pretty darn cute.

Taking his shots!

I spent most of the day trying to get Jacob to smile in pictures, particularly pictures with me. It didn't happen. I actually tried to recreate a shot from last year, except this time with me in it, and this was as good as it got. At least I think I look pretty decent, which is rarely the case!

We tried. Or rather, I tried.

Near the end of our trip Jacob started to get extra cranky. He nearly got yelled at for trying to climb into the giant goalie mask on display, and then was doing his darnedest to get into this display for the "Golden Goal" from the 2010 Winter Olympic win by Canada...

His behavior in the store wasn't much better (since we deemed him well-stocked with hockey guys), and one final photo op with me didn't go well, but I did get this adorable picture...

Lunch was a disaster (despite being at one of our favorite restaurants), probably because he was tired. I think he was asleep before we made it out of the city, and he slept a bit on the way home. I'm not sure it was enough, as his behavior for the rest of the weekend was pretty iffy. We were going to spend Sunday with Craig's family, but a couple people spent Saturday night throwing up so we opted to leave ASAP so as not to risk getting whatever bug was floating around. Being sick is horrible enough, but work schedules would make any illness more inconvenient than usual, so it didn't seem wise to tempt fate. We'll be back to visit in a couple weeks, though.

All in all, it was a decent trip. We avoided any trace of snow, missed a power outage at home, and had some fun moments. But Jacob's inability to listen is really starting to wear on us...me in particular. He was so bad in church that he lost his Legos through Wednesday. I gave him a chance to earn Tuesday back with good behavior yesterday (and again today at daycare pickup), since I knew some of it might have been a result of his wacky sleep schedule, but another round of tantrums put the kibosh on that. Someday he'll learn, right?